The future of Merc in "J" ???

[mike ross]

This would be a perfect time to take a very competitive j rig to the lake and experiment with it. different heights, different restrictor sizes, wet or non wet pipe and compile some factual data to present to the 2 different commissions. Even though the mercury isn't officially a legal stock engine. I think we may see the SORC let this motor race in 2010 as an A. With the National meeting coming soon this would sure make changing something a bunch easier. We always seem to miss this part of changing the rules. Look at the data and make a decision based on facts rather than emotion. Like i have stated in another post at the Stock meeting, changes come when someone has some brain storm after lunch and makes a proposal that gets shot around the table and then voted on. Mikey

[nicf14]

If you drop it 3/8" it would be the same as Kpro 1 3/4". All BTM checkers already have this measurement on them. No need for new checkers.

[csh2z]

The Merc is legal for "A" for the 2010 season. It will no longer be legal after November 1, 2010.

[Big Don]

The Merc is legal for "A" for the 2010 season. It will no longer be legal after November 1, 2010.

For now...you never know that could change

[csh2z]

So true, but being legal for 2010 at least, will not change.

[doc 35-0]

We compete in the AXS class, and would like to run in the A, but was told they are some what faster. We will try to run the Merc in the A class next year if time permits. I wonder if anyone has taken a box stock J Merc and tryed to get it on plane turning seven grand? Have they had piston problems? Or did they just have trouble getting on plane. Getting on plane is the biggest problem in the J class and no one will do anything to stop the madness. The high rpm during the process has to shorten the life of the motor and thus drive up the cost. The average J driver is not heavy enough to put his weight far enough to get the boat on plane. Hey, you can add weight to the front but that reduces speed. The answer is dropping the engine, or increaseing pitch on the prop which would be costly.

[Cameraboy]

We compete in the AXS class, and would like to run in the A, but was told they are some what faster. We will try to run the Merc in the A class next year if time permits. I wonder if anyone has taken a box stock J Merc and tryed to get it on plane turning seven grand? Have they had piston problems? Or did they just have trouble getting on plane. Getting on plane is the biggest problem in the J class and no one will do anything to stop the madness. The high rpm during the process has to shorten the life of the motor and thus drive up the cost. The average J driver is not heavy enough to put his weight far enough to get the boat on plane. Hey, you can add weight to the front but that reduces speed. The answer is dropping the engine, or increaseing pitch on the prop which would be costly.

High RPM shorten the life...maybe like this?

[j hydro racer]

got one

High RPM shorten the life...maybe like this?

got one sitting in the garage just like that one from this past weekend.

[Cameraboy]

Basic modifications to fishing engines are necessary to make racing engines!!
Since the early days of our sport basic modifications have been necessary to allow 'fishing' engines to function under racing conditions. Taking a Merc 15 designed to troll around at 2500 rpm on a fishing boat and all of a sudden be expected to run around a race course at 7000plus RPM's with no race preperation is a foolish premise!

True. Then there's those Y racing motors from the far east. Unstable at the heights on the books for the classes they were brought into, so make a rule allowing blueprinted gearcases. Head tolerances too inconsistent, so make a rule allowing blueprinting of the heads. Different? Really?

I'm waiting for the thread a few years down the road where somebody finds a loophole with a Sidewinder and it's argued that the tweak needs to get grandfathered into the tech manual to make it more of a racing motor and level the playing field.

People will tinker - motors and rules.

[LarryR]

People will tinker - motors and rules.

True enough! Lowering the engine 1/4 or 3/8 is cheap, non-invasive, safer, easy to enforce, "fast will last", brave, clean and reverant. Is there any energy behind actually enacting this change?

[Team B&H]

Any competent engine builder will lap the flywheel to the crankshaft so there is no possible movement and fretting. I've seen several instances of this happening but had none on our lapped motors. The crack normally starts at the flywheel key. Let me know if you need a new crank- have a box of them in the basement.

[modhydro]

Lowering the engine only a temporary fix

If you lower the engine for the J, how long do you think it will be before the boats evolve again and have them right on the edge of not planing? Like anything we do, there are multiple effects downstream. It is just putting a delay into the same thing we see right now.

Steve Roskowski

[sam]

Temporary is better than nothing and gives time to figure out the next hurdle rather than continuing on the wrong course of ever increasing speed for novices.

[reed28n]

Height

If you lower the engine for the J, how long do you think it will be before the boats evolve again and have them right on the edge of not planing? Like anything we do, there are multiple effects downstream. It is just putting a delay into the same thing we see right now.

Steve Roskowski

If you were able to lower the height to say the 1 3/4" K Pro height, which is already on most inspection tools, you could consider a base line for J boat dimensions that might.

The speed is higher than when we were kids but we only had "Pong" and the boat technology was not quite as driver friendly. (70's early 80's)

Kids just have more stuff than we had when we were little and with the boats being safer performace wise, I think you leave it up to the parents to put their child in a speed range they are comfortable with.

Scott

The lapping is a good tip. You want to make sure after you lap the fly wheel that the key is in the correct location too, or if you have replaced the flywheel key that it is the correct size.

[modhydro]

Temporary not better in my mind

Sam,

I'm going to have to disagree on this one. Several different threads have discussed the increasing prices of all facets of racing. Why allow mods to engines that increase speed and then make a change that dictates new boats to keep the dads competitive? I think that this backwards approach is counterproductive in the long run. If this rule was to get changed, there would be a lot of new boats being built and extensive modifications to others. If the rules allowing the modifications are allowed to stay, how about regulating the speeds with the restrictor? For those of you who are going to say that will create planing issues, re-evaluate your J program and decide if it is more important to have your kid plane off every heat, get experience and build friendships that will last a lifetime, or be greedy on the beach, set up the rig on the edge and watch the frustration your kid has when he/she doens't plane.

To me limiting the power output of the engine is the only way to keep speeds down. If an engine is capable of XX mph right now, it will do it again but at increased cost and effort. Limit the engines potential and there is only so much speed that can be extraced from it.

Steve